Part III - Relaxing on my four-day birthday weekend...making Chocolate Caramel Tartlets

The cover of Saveur, displaying this beautiful Chocolate Caramel Tart, has been haunting me for weeks

With Challenge Spanish Tapas coming up for our Coronado Concerts in the Park Culinary Challenge of the week, I decided to make tartlets and use chocolate from Spain.

Dry ingredients for the tartlet shells: Flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

Originally, I thought the amount of dough for a 9" inch tart would make 12 tartlets. However, there was extra dough and I ended up making an additional 6, for a total of 18. Therefore, after combining the dry and wet ingredients, I would suggest rolling the dough into two, equal rolls and then cutting each roll into 9 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten each ball slightly into a disc before pressing the disc into the pan.

Cooked tartlet shells

Making the caramel is easy, but be sure to watch the candy thermometer and have your butter, whipping cream and crème fraîche ready to mix in when it reaches 340 degrees.

 I let mine go a tad too long trying to get a photo.

Pouring caramel into cooled tartlet shells

Making the ganache

Spoon the ganache over each tartlet, refrigerate, and then sprinkle with sea salt just prior to serving

These were incredible!

Chocolate Caramel Tart
Slightly modified from Saveur, #119

FOR THE CRUST:

1 1⁄2 cups flour
1⁄4 cup plus 1 tbsp. dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar
2 egg yolks, preferably at room temperature
1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract

FOR THE CARAMEL:

1 1⁄2 cups sugar
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 tbsp. heavy cream
1 tbsp. crème fraîche (I used sour cream)

FOR THE GANACHE:

1⁄2 cup heavy cream
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Caro Dark Chocolate from Spain)
Gray sea salt for garnish (I used Cyprus Mediterranean sea salt)

1. Make the crust: Heat oven to 350˚. Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until mixture is pale and fluffy; mix in yolks and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Transfer dough to a 9" fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and press dough evenly into bottom and sides of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prick the tart shell all over with a fork and bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.

2. Make the caramel: In a 1-qt. saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 6 tbsp. water and bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer inserted into the syrup reads 340°. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter, cream, and crème fraîche (the mixture will bubble up) until smooth. Pour caramel into cooled tart shell and let cool slightly; refrigerate until firm, 4–5 hours.

3. Make the ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Put chocolate into a medium bowl and pour in hot cream; let sit for 1 minute, then stir slowly with a rubber spatula until smooth. Pour ganache evenly over tart and refrigerate until set, 4–5 hours. Sprinkle tart with sea salt, slice, and serve chilled.